The guard and the king!

"Did he take the bait?"

High in the sky, Kizaru saw Ulquiorra charge toward him and immediately felt a surge of delight, thinking Ulquiorra had fallen for his trap.

"Yasakani no Magatama!"

The Yasakani no Magatama he had been preparing for so long was unleashed without restraint at that moment.

Countless light projectiles rained down on Ulquiorra like a meteor shower!

Ulquiorra looked up at the projectiles and continued charging straight upward without dodging.

Seeing this, Kizaru gave a soft exclamation of surprise. "Huh? You're not using that move from before?"

He had assumed Ulquiorra would use that earlier move, Cero Oscuras, to counter his Yasakani no Magatama, but instead, Ulquiorra simply charged straight at him.

"Does he have some new move?" Kizaru knitted his brows, keeping both his gaze and his Observation Haki firmly locked on Ulquiorra, not daring to relax for even an instant.

The next moment, however, his eyes suddenly bulged as he stared down in disbelief.

"How is that possible?!"

Ulquiorra had actually... vanished into thin air?!

With both Kizaru's eyes and Observation Haki locked on him, he had simply vanished into thin air, disappearing in the blink of an eye without Kizaru's Observation Haki sensing a thing!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Having lost their target, the countless light projectiles all bombarded the ground, blasting craters of varying depths into it.

The next instant, a black figure suddenly appeared in front of him, slashing the Moonlight Sword down at him!

"What? My Observation Haki didn't pick him up at all?!"

Kizaru paled in shock and hastily dropped his Yasakani no Magatama stance, but the Moonlight Sword was already right upon him.

Rumble!

Dark green energy erupted like a hundred thousand tons of explosives detonating at once. The entire sky seemed to shake as a shock wave visible to the naked eye spread outward, scattering all the white clouds in the surrounding sky!

A mushroom cloud rose in the sky. Then a figure burst through it and plummeted from high above. Within just a few breaths, he struck the ground, shattering it outright and plowing several hundred meters through it before finally coming to a stop.

Everyone held their breath as they watched, and even Akainu momentarily forgot to attack.

A ring of wind suddenly scattered the black mushroom cloud in the sky, revealing Ulquiorra within. He glanced down at the dust-filled scene below and sneered.

"You defended yourself on instinct? A wise choice. Otherwise, you would already be dead."

"Cough, cough, cough..." Coughing came from the dust on the ground. Then a streak of golden light shot out, flew into the air, and coalesced into Kizaru's form. He looked thoroughly disheveled, however, with wounds of all sizes covering his body, his Marine uniform in tatters, and a bloody cut on his face.

He stared fixedly at Ulquiorra and said gravely, "You really are even more of a monster after awakening... But I'm curious. If you know Armament Haki, why didn't you use it from the start? If you had, I'd already be dead."

The corners of Ulquiorra's mouth rose as he sneered. "If I'd killed you right away, I would have scared Akainu off."

At those words, Kizaru froze for a moment, his expression turning ugly. "So I was just bait?"

He had gone to all that trouble to buy time for Akainu to arrive, even congratulating himself when his opponent missed several chances to kill him. He had never imagined it had all been deliberate. A Marine Admiral like him had merely been bait to keep his opponent occupied until Akainu arrived?

"What else did you think you were?"

Ulquiorra curled his lips and spoke mockingly.

Standing below, Ye Yang's lips curved into a strange smile.

Of course Ulquiorra did not know Armament Haki. He was not even from this world and had only arrived an hour or two ago. How could he possibly know Armament Haki?

Those few chances to deal Kizaru a fatal blow had not been opportunities Ulquiorra deliberately passed up. He had simply been unable to kill him.

But although Ulquiorra did not know Armament Haki, Ye Yang did!

When Kizaru launched his attack, Ye Yang had guessed his intentions. He was quite happy to oblige him-and even happier to give him a surprise.

So he had used the Forbidden Magic Book's power to temporarily control Ulquiorra's body.

Moreover, doing so did not cause his own body to lose consciousness. Rather, it was something like splitting his consciousness in two to control both at once.

In other words, while he controlled Ulquiorra in battle, his own body retained half his consciousness and would not lose its ability to fight as a result.

He had only discovered this just now, when he controlled Ulquiorra's body for the first time.

Ye Yang would not reveal any of this, however. Casually making up a lie to undermine Kizaru's morale was good enough.

Kizaru stared at Ulquiorra with an ugly expression. The fact that this already troublesome opponent could awaken was enough of a headache. Now, with Armament Haki added to the mix, one careless move might very well get him killed!

He glanced down out of the corner of his eye and saw Akainu staring blankly at their battle. Anger immediately welled up within him, and he shouted.

"Sakazuki, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and attack!"

"Attack?" Ulquiorra tilted his head to one side, looking at Kizaru with amusement.

"Hmph!" Although he did not know why his opponent was so calm, Kizaru still snorted and declared resolutely, "As long as I'm here, don't even think about going down there to save your accomplice!"

Hearing this, Ulquiorra shook his head with a smile. "Accomplice? Sorry, but he's not my accomplice."

Kizaru furrowed his brows. "What do you mean? Aren't you two together?"

"We are together, but we aren't accomplices. I might as well tell you. He... is the king of our Dark Forbidden Legion. I'm merely his guard." Ulquiorra continued with a smile, "A guard and a king-which do you think is stronger?"

At those words, Kizaru's pupils abruptly contracted!